In the private carriage neither Veronica or Alex had any idea what their actions had started.
They just sat there silently, desperately trying to find another clue or anything to go on.
Their investigation met quite a large obstacle in the form of Madam Sierra. Looking back at the interaction, Veronica still couldn't understand why she didn't answer their questions.
In her opinion the only reason one would dodge a question so thoroughly was because the individual had interest in not telling the truth. Meaning that Madam Sierra was either the murderer, the murderer works for her, or she knows the killer and wants to bribe them.
There could be some other, less condemning reason, but Veronica couldn't think of any.
It was quite concerning since if she had anything to do with it, then both Veronica and Alex would be in danger for snooping. It caused a small amount of fear to appear in her, but she was a bit surprised to realize that she was mostly excited.
The sensation was strange, but also gave her comfort. It wouldn't do any good to just sit there feeling terrified.
When they were travelling for close to ten minutes, Veronica finally decided to ask the question that bothered her the most.
"How do you know Madam Sierra?" In the seat in front of her Alex sighed in melancholy, he seemed to be preparing to answer this exact question.
"That isn't an easy question to answer... I known her for a very long time..." The look in his eyes was both sad and reminiscent.
"How long exactly? And if we are already at this topic, how old are you?" For a few seconds he didn't answer, still lost in the thoughts of his past. Eventually he seemed to regain some sense of now and tried to answer her previous question.
"Let's start with the easier question. I might not look like it, but I'm actually 64 years old. I met Sierra when I was only 18, which was... damn, 46 years ago." She wasn't too shocked to learn his real age, it was a bit obvious that he seemed much younger than he actually was.
Alex turned silent again. He kept looking at his hand, turning it over, watching the barely noticeable wrinkles there. His eyes seemed to ask a question... When?
'When did this happen?' 'How did the years go by so quickly?'
Every person has this revelation sooner or later. On one day you look in the mirror or look at your hand and ask these questions.
The years seem to go by so fast, but only when it starts to be too late do you actually notice it. When your inner clock starts to close in on the midnight, do you realize if your life was satisfactory or not, but of course it is too late to change it by then.
Similar feelings went through Alex by the looks of it, eventually he looked up with a sad smile and stared straight into Veronica's eyes.
"Before I begin this story let me give you an advice... It's not worth it!... You might think being an ascended, having all these amazing powers is worth more than anything, but that's not true... You are still young unlike me and you definitely shouldn't make the same mistakes that I did..."
He seemed to trail off for a moment, but after a small shake of his head he continued.
"What I learnt in my 64 years is that nothing's worth more than family and friends. You should never give up on them or throw them away for power!... Especially the ones you love the most..."
The message was crystal clear for Veronica and the guilty look in Alex's eyes further increased her theory.
"Did you love her?" She asked trying to make eye contact, but he was too ashamed to look up. The only answer he provided was a small nod.
The carriage rumbled on in silence. Veronica didn't ask any other questions, she had learnt enough to know that whatever happened was much more painful that Alex let on.
She didn't expect him to talk about it more, which further increased her surprise when he spoke again.
"She was a prostitute back then..." He finally looked up. His eyes were a bit red, but no tear flowed down on his face.
"I just turned 18 and a few of my older friends thought it would be funny if they brought me to a brothel. It was a pretty shitty one, not like the Red Swan. We weren't rich, so we went to one in our price range..." His voice was low and sad.
"I met her there. She was one of the ladies working that night. When my eyes fell on her, I knew it instantly, but I was way too shy to actually go and talk to her... Only when one of my friends after a few drinks tried to approach her, did I act..."
The expression on his face slowly turned angrier and Veronica awaited with great interest how the story would continue.
"He watched me eying her for a long time, then thought it would be funny to have sex with her... Before that day I was never really in a fight, but seeing him approach Sierra... I could only see red from anger. I punched him straight on the nose..."
For some reason he didn't seem ashamed about this fact, but he was also reluctant to speak more.
"Did you knock him out and went to talk with Sierra?" For a moment Alex stared at her with pure bewilderment, then he started laughing hysterically.
"Fuck no... I got my ass handed to me and got thrown out of the brothel." He answered while continuing to laugh.
"But... I don't understand... How did you actually meet Sierra then?" His jolly mood turned melancholic again.
"It was all because of her. She saw me eying her throughout the night and she was waiting for me to approach her... When she saw me getting thrown out with a large bruise on my face, she was kind enough to go outside and check upon me..."
Veronica nodded in understanding. It also brought more questions to her mind, but before she could ask anything Alex continued.
"She found me sitting on the porch of the brothel, holding onto my black eye. After a very awkward introduction she sat down next to me and we talked that whole night... At the end I felt so bad for her losing out on money, that I said I would take her out for a dinner tomorrow..."
This time he was smiling proudly. It must've been a big step for him to ask her out.
"Did she agree?" She asked with a curious and warm smile at which Alex only chuckled a bit.
"Hell no! But she did agree to have lunch with me!" He was practically beaming at this point, which caused a small giggle to escape Veronica's lips, but what he said after caused her mind to short circuit.
"We got married a few weeks after..." The look on Veronica's face could only be described as utter confusion and disbelief.
"WHAT?!" She shouted which startled Alex a bit. It took her quite a few seconds to actually realize what he said wrong.
He looked away with a small nervous laughter and further explained without looking at Veronica.
"The two of us were greatly in love... She even left the prostitute life for me and I had a job that could take care of both of us. One night we gotten drunk and thought, 'We love each other, why shouldn't we get married!' On the same night we went to the local cathedral run by the Church of Time and the priest married us to each other..."
The reminiscent look which was stuck on his face slowly disappeared as he continued the story.
"We stayed together for years, but on one day Sierra got an offer from someone. I to this day don't know who the individual was, but one day when I got home, Sierra wasn't there. I thought she was just out in the market maybe, but when she didn't come back the next day I knew something was wrong!"
His expression further soured as the tale turned sadder.
"I reported it to the police, who I later found out, handed the case to the Lawbringers. I don't exactly know the details of why and how did it happen, but at some point two inspectors came to my house. They said that I shouldn't look for my wife, or I will get in trouble and I would be considered an enemy of the state!"
Veronica's mouth fell open hearing this. There was literally no scenario she could've thought of that could've led to this outcome.
"Did you stop looking for her?" He stared out the window, watching the dark street that seemed to reflect his soul perfectly.
"I should've, but I wasn't ready to just give up on the love of my life... Back then I had no idea about the supernatural, but after going to the same church where we got married, the priest got the Unbroken to help me..."
His hand was trembling from hatred while he spoke.
"I brought them one of Sierra's unwashed clothes and they divined her current place... They saw her in the bed with another man. She was different by then, an ascended of the Sinner path. Much more beautiful than her previous self... not like I cared."
"At first I didn't believe the Unbroken, but they actually used an Ethereal Item to show me the scene. They then told me a few things about the supernatural. I stayed at the church for a whole night staring up at the large Clock of Time... The next day when the Sun came up I went straight to a port and travelled to a different city. Soon after that I became a pirate..."
Slowly Veronica reached out and held his shaky hands. The coolness of her own bought his turbulent emotions back down. After a few minutes of silence he sighed and finally looked away from the street.
"I never learnt who made her an ascended or why she left without saying a word. Later I had remembered a few strange things that I haven't payed attention previously. For example I knew nothing of her past, I married her and knew nothing about her... This should've been the first warning, but I ignored it because of love..."
She gave his hand a small supportive squeeze and whispered, "It wasn't your fault! Don't blame yourself for a bullet you dodged."
He didn't seem too comforted by what she said and when he looked up there was only anger in his eyes.
"Don't make the same mistake I did! I threw away my whole normal and happy life, because of a stupid childhood love... Believe me when I tell you this, if you have to give up something really important in your life just to be with someone, then look for another person to love... It's not a compromise if you are the only one who loses!"
Veronica looked at him sadly, but before she could say anything else the carriage stopped. They arrived back to the inn.